Elements of a Valid Wrongful Termination Lawsuit

The elements of a wrongful termination lawsuit will differ in response to the employment status of the aggreived employee intending to file that cause of action against his or her former employer.  The basic elements of a cause of action for wrongful termination or discharge will differ where the employee at issue is an employee at-will, an employee under contract with the offending employer or an employee that is a member of a labor union who has been wrongfully terminated by their former employer. 

Contract Employees

• There must have been a written, signed contract for employment between the employer and the discharged employee.
• The employee must have been terminated by employer actions which resulted in a breach of the employment contract.
• The employee must have suffered physical or financial damages as a result of the breach of the contract by the employer.

Employee at Will

• The employee at-will at issue must have been an individual protected by the statutory protections available to wrongfully discharged employees.  Independent contractors, volunteers and aliens are not protected by most current State and federal employment laws.
• The employer at issue must be an entity subject to State and federal anti-discrimination laws.
• The conduct that resulted in the wrongful termination must have been conduct recognized as discriminatory conduct by State and/or federal laws and statutes.
• The conduct of the employer which resulted in the employee wrongful termination must have violated State and/or federal antidiscrimination in employment laws and statutes.

Labor Union Employee

• The discharged union employee must be a member in good standing of a recognized union.
• The discharged employee must have a contract with that union.

Employee must have filed a grievance in compliance with union contract requirements against the employer he or she believes engaged violated the union contract and/or was unfair or illegal behavior and the union must be allowed to investigate the employee’s claim.

If the employee’s claim for wrongful discharge remains unsettled, or the employer refuses to settle the claim, it is usually referred to arbitration by an outside arbitrator or labor relations specialist.  The arbitrator’s decision will then be binding on all parties as a final, non-appealable decision.

It is important to remember at this point that especially with a wrongfully terminated at-will or contract employee that his or her cause of action against an employer who engaged in unfair or illegal acts in connection with a wrongful termination will more often than not include one or more other torts committed simultaneously with the wrongful termination.  The employee’s employment attorney will need to determine the elements of each contiguous claim.  There may be a claim of intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, fraud or intentional misrepresentation, tortious interference with advantageous contractual relations, and defamation to name just a few common contiguous tort claims in an employment action for wrongful termination.

Determining the elements of a wrongful termination claim is really only properly done by an employment attorney.  It can be an extremely complicated inquiry or series of legal assessments that most laymen cannot properly make alone.  In order to best preserve the terminated employee’s rights and interests whether he was an at-will employee, contract employee or a union employee prior to the termination it is important to contact an employment attorney and take  the time to go over the situation fully to correctly determine that best course of action for the employee to take next.